HLA Profile of Kami Population Refutes the Earlier Proposition of Exclusive Closer Genetic Affinity of All the Gorkhas to Mongoloids

Abstract

Objective: Based on the HLA profile of Indian Gorkhas, Debnath and Chaudhuri (2006) proposed that Gorkhas are genetically closer to Mongoloids, and they may have originated from Mongolians or Tibetan stocks. However, the major limitation of the earlier study was that Gorkhas comprise 2 broad groups, i.e. Tibeto-Burmans and Indo-Aryans. Besides, Gorkhas have an assemblage of many sociocultural and linguistically distinct populations such as Rai, Magar, Limbu, Tamang, Newar, Bahun, Kami, and so on. Thus, the generalization of the findings on Gorkhas by considering them as a single homogenous population may not be free from biases. Therefore, the present study aims to understand the genetic affinity of a constituent population from the Gorkha community, i.e. Kami, based on HLA polymorphism. Methods: First field HLA typing was performed among 158 Kami individuals by PCR-SSP methods. Results: The most frequent genes observed were HLA-A*11, HLA-B*15, HLA-DRB1*15. The frequency of HLA-DRB1*15 reported here is the highest recorded among the North Indian population to date, which is a noteworthy finding of the study. The hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis showed that the Kami population lies within the cluster of the Indian subcontinental population. Conclusion: The study refutes the earlier proposition of exclusive belongingness of all the Gorkhas to Mongoloids.